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          THE BUTCHER.
  Though a Butcher is a very useful person
to society, yet he is far from being respected.
Being habituated to the slaughter of beasts,
sheep, &c. the name has been sometimes
appropriated by the way of marked odium,
to a hardened murderer. Let us not, how-
ever, suppose that every Butcher is an un-
feeling man; some have been extolled for
their humanity and sensibility. The law,
however, entertains no great opinion of
butchers, having excluded them from being
ion a jury. Some Butchers, who are in an
extensive line of business, purchase the
animals alive, and slaughter them in a yard
appropriated for that purpose near their
stall; others are in a more confined way, and
only purchase half-carcases, or joints. The
former have certainly more gain; though,
during a very hot summer, they certainly
lose much of their meat for want of a
speedy consumption. The latter class of
Butchers generally reside in streets or roads
by themselves. Considerable nicety is re-
quired in severing the joints ; and besides a
knife and steel, they are obliged to use a
chopper, and frequently a saw; also a num-
ber of skewers to lake the joints look
handsome.